iRobot - i3

For vac only, especially on carpet the roomba i3 on Amazon in like new condition was $70 last week. It’s $100 now but worth keeping an eye on it for a really cheap vacuum only robot. Especially on carpet the roomba 2 roller vacs do really well.

100%. I got a roomba i3 for under $50 and it vacuums on carpet really well. The roller design matters a lot, can’t believe some higher end models still have a single roller. Even with the patent expiring they still cheap out.

I have a roomba- and heavy shedding dogs. I still have to vacuum weekly but it keeps us from being knee deep in hair. Get robot vacuum that empties into its own base. Some days it just has to empty its self over and over and over (coat blowing season). You don’t want a vacuum you have to empty as it would defeat the purpose of it being a robot. I buy bootleg replacement parts: filters, brushes, vacuum bag for base off of amazon. (I’m in US) I have not had any trouble

i3- it’s an old one.

I have the Roborock Qrevo Plus, and it has been amazing! I have light colored floors and a black Dane and black Cocker. The robot runs every night and every morning we have clean floors. I have a 8 month old baby who is crawling so am also on the floor a lot and I’m always amazed by how spotless they are! Mapping was quick and painless, and I hardly ever have to intervene or rescue it. I also have a iRobot i3 and it’s a night and day difference. App is easy to use, and we have had it for just about a year and have had no problems. Refill clean water and dump dirty mop water once a week. Obstacle avoidance seems to work pretty well too, no incidents yet!

I owned iRobot i3 - worked fine, but only real sensor - was front bumper, so he was “dumb”. Best thing about iRobot is that you can replace every part without 3rd party help. I had it for several years, not a single problem whatsoever.

In case of i3 there was no problem with hair on the rollers. I cleaned hair from tips of the roller from time to time, but that was like 30sec cleanup. More hairs were collected in the front wheel, but it was removable and easily cleaned.

I agree, it’s a shitty vacuum. I’ve spent $500+ on a Roomba i3 and I would do it again just for the dog hair. It’s a dog hair sweeper and it does a damn good job at that.

I really appreciate someone bringing this up! As a design geek, I always struggle when I have to make purchase decisions because not always I find something that I consider "well designed". The robot vacuums category is one of these... However, here some robot vacuums that have a design worth talking about (of course, things need to be contextualised for their time). In completely random order: - **Roomba s9**: a sleek and professional finish, the first (and only) D-shaped Roomba, taking advantage of its shape and bringing to market the best edge cleaning ever (before robot vacuums with extensible side brush were a thing) together with one of the best vacuuming performances ever. - **Roomba i3**: the first one of the newly engineered Roomba mid-range series, bringing to "budget" conscious consumers a new methodical navigation method, together with a modern aesthetics which drops the carrying handle for a new fabric-textured top finish and with modern, clean lines. - **Philips (Versuni) HomeRun 7000**: not a particularly noteworthy product, however a robot vacuum distancing itself from the competition thanks to the typical Philips design, with dual-finish robot and fabric emptying base. Not the best result, but at least an attempt to bring an externally developed product (ODM'd by 3irobotix) in line with the company design style (uses for instance with air purifiers etc). - **Roomba j7/j9+**: distancing itself from its predecessor (Roomba i7, with a good looking "techy" design), it brings a much cleaner design, more minimal, and enriched by a metallic disc on top together with a UI based on the RGB light around the only button (not the most intuitive one, but an attempt to do something different). It also features a newly redesigned self-emptying station, now developed in a much more compact and modern-looking form factor, thing that will be later copied by most other manufacturers. - **Neato Botvac lineup**: overall, Neato products have always been lacking in terms of design (an exception being the Kobold VR300, which changes the design aligning it to the family feeling of contemporary Vorwerk products), however these specific units brought more thoughtful, cleaner lines (to an extent...) together with the LiDAR tower cap in some bold, unique colours. This aesthetic didn't survive long and wasn't - overall - in line with the brand identity of Neato. Still, a good attempt. RIP. - **Dyson 360° VisNav**: not too much to say - it looks good. Perfectly matches a useful D-shaped layout with the Dyson family feeling. Balanced despite the lack of simplicity, modern in a retro-futuristic way, and functional. - **Karcher RC3000**: one of the first robot vacuums with self-emptying station (the first one?), with a bold design perfectly in line with the company identity. - **Dreame W10 Pro**: overall, similar to all other Dreame products, but in the (now abandoned) D-shaped style. Adds a gold accent to differentiate it from the "non-Pro" version which lacks the front sensor array (ToF 3D cam + RGB cam). Clean lines, clean colours, very minimal and stylish overall. - **SmartMi VortexWave**: innovative design for this unique robot vacuum and mop: D-shaped style allowing a large front brush that can be exchanged to leave its place to a roller-style mop. The first robot vacuum supporting both dry and wet vacuuming. Clean lines and a good mix of minimal and techy design. - **Electrolux Pure i9.2 (also AEG RX9.2)**: one one-of-a-kind. The genuine successor of the original Electrolux Trilobite. Developed in-house by Electrolux, this product was one of the first to implement small obstacles avoidance (2017 for the first gen Pure i9) thanks to its navigation method fully based on dual-line lasers. Overall an excellent product, unfortunately killed by the high price, lacking marketing, and growing Chinese competition (at much cheaper prices). Futuristic design for a robot with futuristic features. - **Matic robot vacuum**: the only one that in recent years has dared to challenge the paradigm of robot vacuums. Narrower but much taller. Boxy design resembling a robotic toy, with large wheels and front, "peninsular" brush assembly. Together with a revolutionary vSLAM navigation system based on nVIDIA Jetson Orin. It has its flaws, but it's the kind of competition we need in the category. - **Narwal (in picture, Freo Z10)**: not really a worthy robot vacuum cleaner/brand overall, but one of the first brands to really bet on rotational mops, together with the distinctive clean and alien-like shape of their docks which has now been copied by many competitors. - **Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum (Roborock)**: the first LiDAR-based robot vacuum to bring LiDAR and methodical navigation to the masses, at a price that made it the the-facto standard of robot vacuum recommendations in 2016/2017. Together with the new technology at low price, it brought to the market a modern and clean design and a futuristic, intuitive app. - **DJI Romo**: too early to speak about this as a robot vacuum cleaner, but from a design perspective it takes the clean, curvy Narwal style and turns it inside-out giving it a transparent cover. Good result, but durability of the good look is still TBD. - **Mach R1** (sorry, I refuse to call this Eufy S1 Pro): birthed by the Anker Innovations incubator "Mach" (later absorbed into Eufy), it finally brings to Anker-owned Eufy a new style that was really needed. Futuristic and clean, not much to say. A very good result resembling the square-ish shape of older LG HomBot, but in a new futuristic, semi-transparent twist. That's all folks 😬 Edit: pictures in the comment below because somehow embedding doesn't work in this comment.

>Is there something else that would be better at a similar price point (~$300)? Is there a reason it's worth going up to $500 even with these basic requirements? Yes, if you still find it in stock: the Roomba i3.

My issue with Roomba is that the quality seems to have declined over the years. I had an older model that was a total tank—it just worked. But my experience with the i3 was constant frustration: it often wouldn’t start for no clear reason, missed its dock by a wide margin, was louder than it should’ve been, and its cleaning performance was just okay. It wasn’t a total disaster, but my partner hated it and felt like it never worked properly. We recently switched to a Mova, and it’s been great. It just works, and its obstacle avoidance is so good that I don’t have to tidy up before running it. I even got it for less than what I paid for the i3 and Braava m6 combined.

I have a i3 for 4 years now paired with an m6. I do want to upgrade though but honestly I just put an XL battery from Amazon in it and now the i3 vacuums the whole house without recharging (1,400sqft). I have one pet so this is doable for the moment. Twice a month I’ll use my cordless vacuum and it picks up a bit so the i3 does a great job for my situation Try returning your 105. Keel the i5. Save some money and just buy a bigger battery and see if that works still.

Our irobot roomba gobbles pet hair and it's a basic i3 model. You have a roborock budget though and reddit is going to steer you towards that or just tell you to get a Miele vacuum.

I have an irobot i3 and it runs every day without issues. The replacement rollers and filters are available cheap on Amazon. It collects plenty of debris and cat hair, mix of carpets and hard floors.

A robovac to me is not a substitute for vacuuming thoroughly once at least every other week. It helps keep little things off the floor, and gives you inspiration to pick up if you need it. I have a roomba i3 that cleans very well on carpet and hard floors, but yes you do have to make sure there are not loose cords or other objects around, I consider that a good thing. If you're looking to uplift fibers a cordless vacuum isn't the solution at anything lower than the highest price points. Cheap cordless vacuums are sweepers at best.

I bought 2 Mova P10 Ultras and they’ve been great, especially for the price! Paid around $500 each, looks liek its at $600 now on Amazon. I have 2 dogs that never stop shedding and this has been a life saver. Such an improvement over my old Roomba i3. Mopping works pretty well too. Havent had any issues with obstacles. My roomba used to always get tangled up in my dining table/chair legs. Not an issue any more! It does snag a cord once in a while but its so rare that i dont mind.